


The Setting of the Old Sun

by hivehum



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blind Character, Canon Disabled Character, Character Study, Nonbinary Character, Other, POV Second Person, Trans Character, World of Ruin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 06:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14889044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hivehum/pseuds/hivehum
Summary: Their voice is almost unfamiliar to you, now, and it hurts. It has this haunted growl to it, now, like the rust of ten years’ disuse tarnished the one variable you could count on.But they sound like a king, and you cannot fault them for it.





	The Setting of the Old Sun

**Author's Note:**

> my beta hasnt played episode ignis we die like men

“Back,” Noctis says, to announce their presence.

It wasn’t necessary. You could hear them enter the room with steps that are different from before but still distinct, unique — not the heavy footfalls of Gladio, nor the quick pace of Prompto, but the confident gait of a king.

But they don’t know that, and you cannot fault them for it.

“Welcome back,” you reply, and you mean it.

They approach you at a regular pace — you hear the friction of fabric against fabric, their socks muffling thumps against the linoleum floor of the camper. The booth across from you lets out a deflated squeak and hands push against the dinette counter as Noctis sits.

“Got my hair looking somewhat decent,” they start. They sound casual about the whole thing, like it was a banal salon trip.

Their voice is almost unfamiliar to you, now, and it hurts. It has this haunted _growl_ to it, now, like the rust of ten years’ disuse tarnished the one variable you could count on.

But they sound like a king, and you cannot fault them for it.

“Never had to shave before,” they say, bashfully. They shift ever so slightly — you can hear their voice inches closer to you, the softest sound of an elbow placed on the table, the skin-against-skin of their hand rubbing the back of their neck. “Bet it took this whole time to grow out.”

That hand leaves their neck and is laid so softly down between them. The faux leather of the booth complains as they scoot forward.

“Just shaped it, though,” they say. “Feels weird to just shave the whole thing off, I guess.”

“I’m sure it is quite flattering,” you reply.

“Oh,” they say, and the way their voice drops, the sudden awkwardness in each syllable, stings, just so. “Sorry. I, uh. Right. You can’t....”

They’re quiet, for a moment, and you ponder their expression.

“You could, um, touch it?” They say, suddenly. “So you know what it feels like.”

You feel a smile sneak its way onto your face — small, but present.

“I would be honored,” you reply, and you mean it.

The booth squeaks yet again and they must be sitting on the very edge of it, now. You’re not sure if you are imagining their breath stirring the air between you.

You smell soap, ever so faint. Unscented, allegedly, which just means it smells like soap.

You reach confidently over to Noct’s face and — miss, and your hand finds itself on their shoulder.

And it makes your throat tighten, just so, and you grip the soft fabric perhaps a bit too much, but you can hardly control it because they are wearing the shirt you had last seen them in. One you had washed and folded for them the day before the trial, something you didn’t know you would end up cherishing so dearly.

But you maintain your composure.

Your second try hits the mark, and your palm brushes against coarse bristles before your fingers tap against Noctis’s jawline. The hairs are that sweet spot between prickly stubble and the rough tangles of a beard grown too long. It’s certainly softer than Gladio’s beard, but Noct has always had a smoother texture to their hair.

Your fingertips run from where Noct’s jaw meets their ear down to their chin. You move slow, and careful, taking in every imperfection, every divot in their skin.

You notice that their jawline has changed. That they have squared off. That they have grown gaunt, that they have lost the last vestiges of soft youth in your time apart.

And it shakes you. It tears you apart.

Because you remember, so suddenly, so vividly, what Pryna had shown you on that terrible day.

Because you’re reminded, so awfully, that before you is Noctis, the Chosen King, and you’re reminded, so brutally, what lay ahead.

It feels real, that vision. It feels real, after all these years, and any doubt in your mind — more pleading wishes than doubts, a story you entertained so you could even try to cope — is cleared, like it or not.

It didn’t matter what you tried. Your years of endless research only confirmed it. Their fate is set in stone, as it surely had been since they were born.

And that their fate will be soon, too soon, far too soon. You should’ve had a lifetime together, but you feel time slipping away like sand between your fingers.

Those horrible sights wash over you — of the agony on their face as they harness power one cannot handle alone, of the way their skin cracks and burns and sheds off like ash in a way you too intimately understand, of the way they fell back, lifelessly, and dissolved into nothing, for their role as the pawn of the Six was over — and your sorrow ignites into white hot _anger_ , that a two thousand year game of chess was rigged for _Noctis_ to be the final sacrifice, and your hand against their face is tensing more than it should, and you feel so _useless_ , and you—

“Um, Iggy?” Noctis says, quietly. “You good?”

The concern in their voice and their jaw moving to voice it snaps you out of your reverie, and you return your hands to your side of the dinette.

And you regain your composure.

“You did good work, for your first attempt at shaving,” you say.

“I did not notice any nicks or cuts,” you say.

“Fit for a king,” you say.

**Author's Note:**

> hi so. im vision impaired but im still way more sighted than ignis so please lmk if i did anything out of line here??? im flying by the seat of my pants lol
> 
> anyway i felt like i had the biggest trouble characterizing ignis in general so i wrote this up to try and challenge that
> 
> title ref https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTCIX5YB66o


End file.
